GA Supreme Court Won’t Hear GOP Appeal Until After Election

The Georgia State Election Board (SEB) recently passed a series of election integrity rules meant to ensure elections would be fair and accurate. But those rules will not be in effect for the upcoming election because the Georgia Supreme Court declined to expedite a Republican-led appeal of a lower court ruling that nullified the election integrity rules.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox ruled last Wednesday that “the SEB lacked constitutional authority to enact” seven rule proposals. Cox argued that it is the state legislature that has the authority to regulate elections despite the SEB being responsible for “promulgating rules and regulations to promote uniformity in election practices … [and] developing rules and regulations about what constitutes a vote that will be counted,” as outlined by the secretary of state’s office.

The Republican National Committee and the Georgia Republican Party appealed the ruling, seeking expedited review of the case before Election Day. Their request for an expedited appeal was denied without any reason.

“When the appeal is docketed in this Court, it will proceed in the ordinary course,” the Georgia Supreme Court said in its decision.

SEB Member Janelle King said in a statement to The Federalist that “despite these challenges” she remains “committed to ensuring transparency and will closely monitor every step of the election process.”

“I believe these rules can be effectively implemented for the upcoming election,” King said. “However, the final decision rests with the courts. Unfortunately, the timing of public notice and the Secretary of State’s choice not to adequately train staff have hindered our efforts.”

Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon called the decision “supremely disappointing” in a statement to The Federalist.

“It is supremely disappointing to observe yet another failure of our judicial system to expeditiously resolve critical questions about our elections process,” McKoon said. “Georgia judges have had no problem expediting other issues, for example supporting the efforts of Georgia Democrats to kick candidates off the ballot.”

“The rules adopted by the SEB to reinforce key transparency and checks and balances in Georgia law are common sense,” he said. “The solution for Georgians who have had enough of this sort of thing is to turn out in record numbers to elect Donald Trump and the Republican ticket. We will press our appeal next year and hope for sanity to prevail.”

An RNC spokesman told The Federalist the RNC is still confident it “will ultimately win on appeal.”

“After a liberal judge struck down commonsense measures to safeguard our elections, the RNC and GAGOP fought for an emergency order from the Georgia Supreme Court to implement these rules for the November election,” the spokesman said. “We will continue to fight in Georgia and across the country for election safeguards that make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.”

The case was initially brought by former Republican state legislator Scot Turner, his organization, Eternal Vigilance Action, and Chatham County election board member James Hall. The suit alleged that the SEB “promulgated rules that contravene the Election Code” and that the SEB did not have the authority to implement the rule changes. The suit also contended that the rules would alter “Georgians’ voting rights” despite the rules creating safeguards to ensure accurate vote counts. The Democratic National Committee and Georgia Democrat Party filed a similar suit.

One rule struck down by Cox, Rule 183-1-12-.12 (a)(5), aimed to ensure that the number of physical ballots counted matched the machine count total at the precinct level on Election Day. Three poll officers would, according to the rule, “independently count the total number of ballots removed from the scanner, sorting into stacks of 50 ballots, continuing until all of the ballots have been counted separately by each of the three poll officers.”

Cox justified nixing the rule by arguing that “all rules enacted by the SEB must be consistent with the Existing Election Code.” But Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney (who also blocked the rule under the guise there was not enough time to train election workers on how to comply before Election Day) did acknowledge that the rule “appears [to be] consistent with the SEB’s mission of ensuring fair, legal, and orderly elections.” McBurney also said the rule simply provides a “confirmation that the machine counts match reality.”

Another rule Cox struck down was Rule 183-1-12-.02, also known as the “reasonable inquiry” rule. This rule confirmed county election board members are entitled to a “reasonable inquiry” into election discrepancies before certifying the election results. Cox also nullified Rule 183-1-12-.12, which permitted board members to review “all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections prior to certification of results.”

McBurney — whose decision came days before Cox’s — had ruled that while election officials must certify election results even if they are “non-sensical” or inaccurate, election superintendents are entitled to review election-related materials as part of their responsibility to investigate any election discrepancies.

For more election news and updates, visit electionbriefing.com.

Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2